Tuesday, April 25, 2017

I must say that this is a topic that I don't have a ton of experience with, but I can't wait to read everyone else's party ideas. Ben and I are constantly saying that we need to host more parties with different themes, but we seem to fail to actually put them together. Womp womp!

The one party that we did manage to put together also happens to be our very favorite theme, and the party that we will definitely be putting back together now that we seem to be settled for a while in this house. I can't wait for December this year!!

Ben and I got married in July 2010, and in December 2010, we hosted an UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATER PARTY for lots of our friends. It was fabulous, and still happens to be a party that a lot of our friends talk about to this day, almost 7 years later. We had a blast!

We had such a blast that I only managed to take this one picture! Whoops!!

At the time, we were living in about a 700 square foot apartment, so we hosted the party at my in-law's house. We invited friends from all different parts of our lives. Some people brought finger food/appetizers and it was BYOB. It worked out perfectly!

We didn't plan anything special or any games, etc. for the night, but when you're around your favorite people it seems like you really never need those things. We just hung out inside and outside all night and talked about anything and everything. Just talking about the party is getting me excited for planning another one! C'mon Christmas!! (jk I can't wait for summer!)

We haven't hosted another one of these parties since then, but we did convince our home group the following year to do an ugly Christmas sweater party as our Christmas get together. It was also a blast!

You might recognize this picture if you received a Christmas card that year...yes, Ben and I sent this one out to all our friends and family!

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Gosh it seems like forever ago that we were in Seattle, but it has only been a month! Time is flying, and I can't say that I mind, especially right this second as I am waiting to get my blood drawn for my glucose test. Yuck!!

Well, last time I posted about Seattle, I left off on Tuesday, so lets start where I left off...

On Wednesday morning, we woke up and had breakfast in our room before heading out to hike the ice caves. The drive was a little over an hour and I loved the views. I don't know if I've said this yet, but I can't wait to come back to Seattle in the summer, because if it is beautiful during the rainy season, I can't imagine how pretty it is in the summer!

There was a little place to stop right before we got to the "trail" that had a bathroom and I snapped this picture. I made the whole crew stop, because there was no way I was about to go another couple hours without using the restroom!

We eventually got to a dead end road and another couple looked like they had just finished a hike, so we asked them for a little direction. They told us that we just had to hike about two miles in for the ice caves. The road was closed off and completely snowed over, so we knew we were in for an adventure!

Only a few minutes into the hike, we thought...hmmm, are we supposed to be our here?! There was absolutely nothing in sight and there were a few different tracks/poops on the trail, so we kept our eyes peeled for any wild life. Brenda and I eventually forgot about the scary part of the hike, but I'm pretty sure Ben had his eyes peeled the entire way! The Texas boy in him was really wishing he had a knife or something on him!

Lookin' good!

About a mile into the hike, Ben mentioned that he really hoped that the actual trail to the ice caves wasn't two miles in, because then we would have another two miles to get to the ice caves...turns out he was right. After a little over two miles of sliding around in the snow (the trail was not packed), we made it to the ice caves sign.

And that was as far as we went! The boys tried to see if the hike to the caves would be manageable, but they started sinking in the snow up to their knees, so we said "we're out!" Even though we didn't get to see the ice caves, I really enjoyed the scenery we did get to see. The hike was hard from all the slipping and sliding, but beautiful! The two miles in weren't too bad, but the last mile was pretty tough. My lower back was hurting pretty bad from shifting around so much and I had some major pelvic pain. The joys of hiking while 21 weeks pregnant! Other than that, I really enjoyed it! We stopped for just a second to get our sandwiches and chips out for lunch, but kept on trucking since it was cold and rainy. Oh, and we saw the couple we asked about the trail at the beginning as we were finishing up the hike. Turns out they hadn't just finished and hadn't seen the trailhead either! Whoops!

We were all pretty pumped by the time we saw our car! We hopped back in and headed back to downtown Seattle. While we were driving, I noticed that Cafe Allegro was on our way and it had come highly recommended. We all decided that we could definitely go for something hot, so we stopped for a nice cup of coffee at Seattle's first coffee shop.

If you happen to stop here on a trip to Seattle, just realize that it is tucked into an alley. We were a little confused when our directions had us stopping on a street with no signs of Cafe Allegro. It was definitely worth the stop!

Our plans for the rest of the afternoon included some relaxation and a trip to the hot tub. I was able to join this time since the guys found out that it was located inside. Brenda and I just sat on the steps and put our legs in which felt phenomenal after our hike.

While we were getting ready for dinner, Ben noticed on Instagram that Josh Abbott was in Seattle and playing a show that night. The show was pretty close to where we were having dinner, so we decided that if we were up to it, we would stop by!

Dinner was at a little hole in the wall Italian restaurant called, Machiavelli's. It was delicious! The food was delicious, the wait wasn't bad at all, and the service was great! Our waitress was so nice and even let us know ahead of time how many specials were available. This pregnant lady who had her eyes set on that special so appreciated that!

After dinner, we stopped by the concert at the Crocodile Room and enjoyed some Texas country with lots of Seattleites (is that what they call them?). It was such a pleasant surprise to end our night!

Thursday called for clear skies and sun, so we got pretty excited about a trip on the ferry for the afternoon! We headed down to Pike's Place for breakfast and Ben and I had the most delicious breakfast sandwiches at Honest Biscuit. Holy Yum!!

After breakfast, we all headed for the ferry to Bainbridge Island. I was super pumped to get out in the sun and walk around what I had heard was such a cute little town. I love walking in and out of little shops!

The ferry ride was only about 20 minutes long, and we immediately hit downtown Bainbridge once we docked. They had adorable little shops, coffee/lunch places, etc.

I was so wishing I could take some of these cookies back to Henley from the Blackbird Cafe. It was an adorable little shop!

I was also wishing I could take this sweet puppy back for Henley and myself too!! He was in one of the shops we stopped at and I just couldn't get enough of him!

After some fun shopping, we headed back on the ferry for a late lunch. We all had our hearts set on a grilled cheese sandwich from Beecher's, the cheese place we stopped in a few days before.

The grilled cheese sandwiches did not disappoint!

After relaxing in our apartment for a little while, we all got ready for drinks and dinner. Our original plan was to sit at the bar of a restaurant we wanted to go to, but when we got there and put our name on the list, we were told that the bar even had a wait list...whoa! So, we walked across the street to the Four Seasons for some fabulous drinks for them and a little mocktail for me. It was fabulous!

A few years ago we went on a trip with Landon and Brenda to Branson, MO. While we were there, we would go through Table Talk cards at our meals and we had so much fun talking about all sorts of things. We didn't have our cards this trip, so we looked them up on an app and had a blast! We spent the entire cocktail hour discussing topics from the cards and had so much fun! Ps - my mocktail was so flipping good that Ben ordered it plus alcohol for his second round!

After drinks, we walked back across the street to dinner at one of the best meals we have had in a long time! We went to Japonessa for some delicious sushi. I even got to enjoy some yummy sushi by taking the raw fish out of one roll and it felt so good to feel a little bit normal!

Well, that's part two friends! Check back soon for our final day and a half in Seattle!

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Sorry I have been a bit MIA lately. Ben's computer at work went kaput, so he has been taking my laptop in. That means I only have access to my computer late at night and early in the morning some days, and this potty training, 25-week pregnant mama has had no desire to stay up super late or get up super early. Sorry bout that!

How is it already Wednesday, by the way?! I feel like we just had a glorious weekend, so I would like to relive it a little bit on here!

My two favorite types of weekends are busy ones that involve lots of fun activities and the people I love, and weekends when we have absolutely nothing planned. This past weekend was a pretty busy one, but was super fun!

On Friday, Henley went #2 on the potty before school, so it made for a super exciting day! She has had zero #1 accidents since about day #3 of potty training (she has that down!), but #2 is a different story. She went once on the potty our first week of potty training on Sunday (we started Tuesday), and was beyond terrified of it. So, it had been almost a week since her last poo poo on the potty. I was exhausted from taking her every five seconds, because for 2 days she had been telling me she needed to go, but would sit down, get scared and say "no, that's yucky!" Thankfully, she wasn't going during nap or bedtime, but I just knew her little tummy had to be hurting.

We sat on the potty for about 45 minutes before school and she finally did it again! This time, she was so excited for herself, but you could tell still a little nervous about it. She kept saying "mama, I did it!" over and over and over again though! I had pretty much promised her the world at this point, so I told her that when I picked her up from MDO, we would have a really fun day! While she was at MDO I rewarded myself with a little bit of shopping and some time in the sun before I changed into what I believe will be my summer uniform and picked her up!

I pick her up around 2 and we were hoping Ben could go with us later in the day to get her present at Target, so we started out at Sonic. We got out of the car and enjoyed our "special drinks" outside in the fabulous weather. Then, we went to the park to enjoy more of the sunshine!

No, she does not walk around the park without shoes on, but I do let her take them off when she climbs these slides if they are slippery.

My brave girl did the zip line for the first time!

Unfortunately, Ben got stuck about an hour away working, so after over an hour at the park, Henley and I headed to Target on our own. I had gone to the Just Between Friends sale that comes to Denton twice a year and scored an Ana and Elsa dress earlier in the day, so I let her know she had those waiting, but that she could pick out another present for herself.

She was much more interested in the doggie than presents! We walked up and down every single toy aisle, plus the bubble/water toys aisle and Henley picked out a large purple bouncy ball! Hey, if the gift you want is $3, have at it girlfriend!

We finished the day off by trying on our princess costumes and eating dinner together in our living room. It was a successful Friday!

On Saturday, we headed to the gym bright and early! Ben has started going to spin classes with me on Saturday mornings, and it is my new favorite weekend activity together!

After showers, we hopped in the car and headed to my Papaw's farm to spend some quality time with him and his cows. Henley always asks about Papaw and his cows! We had a blast! He also has two cats that she loves to "give pats," and lots of chickens too. If we could have stayed there all day she would have and she would have been outside the entire time!

Papaw's cows have always been very gentle and sweet. He has some behind his house and also some out on his land a little bit west of town. We visited both, but my favorite cow is this one that came right up to Papaw and asked for "pats." He also let Henley and I pet him and she was in heaven! Don't worry...we will have cows one day, that's for sure!

We headed home for nap time, and after throwing in some laundry, I had to start getting ready for an event Ben and I were going to that night. Ben's sister came and watched Henley and they had a blast! Of course, the one time in who knows how long that we got all dressed up and had a nice night out, we took zero pictures. Total fail on my part! Oh well, there was a silent auction during the event and I won the year of lattes! Woo hoo! When I saw it, I immediately told Ben that I would be needing that come July, and he agreed! I can't wait to start using them!

On Sunday, we went to church, came home and planted some flowers and then my parents surprised us by coming through Denton for lunch. We met up with them which Henley loved!

Then it was nap time for us all, before we headed to an EGGSTRAVAGANZA event Henley's little school put on. We invited some friends and had a blast! The kids "hunted" for Easter eggs, enjoyed the petting zoo, and jumped/slid in the bouncy house for forever. All their cheeks were nice and pink as we were leaving...the sign of a good time!

We finished the weekend off with dinner with Ben's family to celebrate his mom's birthday. Homemade pizza and more family fun for the win! It was a fabulous weekend!